This may seem intrinsically silly, but I thinking about some word problems. Specifically, the work reactor. No matter how we might like it, the word has been firmly attached to those evil fission plants, and would make rallying easier.

This is not about definition, definition is irrelevant. What is relevant is perception. If you say "reactor," people will immediately think uranium, and melt downs, etc. This is not a good relation to have, especially considering the massive differences in operation of Bussard's system.

Fortunately, this massive difference has provided a nice alternative. Due to the direct conversion capability when running PB11, it wouldn't be that far out of character to call a Bussard reactor a "generator" instead. "Generator" has very different memes attached to it. With a bit of spin, any attempt to compare Bussard fusion to traditional fission could be fizzled very easily.

Keep in mind this isn't about the smart folks who aren't scared of the word "radiation," but the millions that don't understand, and probably won't anytime soon.

Good point. We need to get rid of chemical reactors as well. And biological reactors are bad. Also lets not talk about fusion reactions because people start thinking. Reactor.

I propose fusion happenings. And the Polywell Fusion Happening. Very avant guard. At least at one time.

When we work on the device we can say "I'm going to work on the happening".

Some people hate anything to do with nuclear power. So how about this: The Polywell Solar Energy Collector. Or the Polywell Wind Generator. Or the Polywell Biomass Collector. Or the Polywell Tidal Generator.

There is a limit to sanity. Unfortunately the world is not sane. Ask your congressman if a reactor or a generator is easier to sell. The bed's been made, and it might be hard to lay in it if you're not careful.

kunkmiester wrote:There is a limit to sanity. Unfortunately the world is not sane. Ask your congressman if a reactor or a generator is easier to sell. The bed's been made, and it might be hard to lay in it if you're not careful.

What happens is that the antis then come back at you and ask why have you been fooling with the name? What do you have to hide?

It is what it is. When people are desperate enough for energy it won't matter what it is called (within reason). BTW the Moon movie and ITER don't seem to have tried to hide the facts. I wonder what the "R" in ITER stands for.

Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.

MSimon wrote: It is what it is. When people are desperate enough for energy it won't matter what it is called (within reason). BTW the Moon movie and ITER don't seem to have tried to hide the facts. I wonder what the "R" in ITER stands for.

I've seen it as the International Tokamak for Energy Research. Maybe he has something!

I see MSimon has this completely covered. Since MSimon has reacted to this post, that makes MSimon a reactor, does it not?

Kunkmiester, you just experienced an over reaction, er ah reactor.... er... never mind.

A major NJ Green Party Official gets his Polywell updates from me.

Most of the Greens I know are fairly smart, they know what the word aneutronic means. TO them it means shutting down coal plants, and that is why they will love Polywell like crazy. Worrying about the word "reactor is just crazy, bat shite crazy.

A MSimon has noted Polywell is something that brings us on the left together with those on the right. This is much bigger than that.

Reactor indeed.....

I like the p-B11 resonance peak at 50 KV acceleration. In2 years we'll know.

When I worked with epi-reactors (semiconductor processing) I was all the time having to explain no-this-is-not-radioactive, it is just chemicals.
People would hear that word and go all red-alert on me and I had to smooth their feathers all the time.
Their "reactions" told me which people NOT to tell how horrendously toxic Arsine and other stuff is and how much we used.

If it works, the smart greens will educate the knee-jerk greens.
And some people will never come around. So be it.
The public relations problem is during the time where it costs (public) money and has not yet generated impressive (to the finance people) results.

-Tom Boydston-
"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?" ~Albert Einstein

rjaypeters wrote:I think the polywell reactors should be called either: "Bussards" or "Bussard/Nebels". If the reactors really work out, there won't be any need to remind people they fuse or react things.

Aside from giving certain someones an opportunity to whale on a supposed instance of "political correctness" that may or may not actually happen... ... this is pretty much a non-issue.

And there is no problem with referring to an electrical generator as a generator... as long as you do not lie about or attempt to obfuscate the fact that there is a fusion reactor at the core of the generator.

"Problem" solved.

The only people who'd want to tun around screaming "REACTOR!" at the top of their lungs in regards to a polywell installation would be those who want to "right" a perceived "wrong" in how the public views a particular subject... and those people could come from either camp.